Location, Location, Location: Bachelor Gulch, Colorado
July 1, 2003
Snow-laced, sunset-tinged peaks mean clean, dry air, greenery and serenity. Such delights no doubt were on the minds of a group of grizzled ex-miners when they looked up at the Rockies in the early 1900s. After migrating to Colorado in search of silver and finding tuberculosis instead, they settled in a fertile valley 9,000 feet above sea level. They called their home Bachelor Gulch, and they farmed, lived well and died peacefully.
Hidden from the valley floor, Bachelor Gulch lay undisturbed until 1995, when the Vail Resorts Development Co. began a master plan for a private community. Nestled on Beaver Creek Mountain between Arrowhead Village and Beaver Creek Resort, Bachelor Gulch Village is built around a high-speed chairlift. The Interconnect, which opened in 1996, allows village-to-village skiing.
Bachelor Gulch’s growth since 1995, when the first homesites were sold, has been intense. The exclusive enclave benefited from the opening of the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch in November 2002, the first luxury resort to open in the Rockies in more than a decade. Three types of lodging and residence are offered: 237 regular hotel rooms, 23 penthouse condos for sale (only two are left), and 54 fractional-ownership residences for sale at the Ritz-Carlton Club.
All properties come with the option of membership in the Bachelor Gulch Club, which offers access to the Ritz-Carlton’s spa facilities, private clay tennis courts, on-mountain dining at Zach’s Cabin, and two unrestricted annual ski passes also good for Vail, Breckenridge and Keystone.
The area is known for winter sports—85 percent of its residences have ski-in/ski-out access—but it is emerging as a year-round resort. The Lodge at Cordillera has three golf courses designed by Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus and Hale Irwin; the Red Sky Golf Club has two new courses, one by Fazio and one by Greg Norman.
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